Monday, September 29, 2008
“What is important is not winning, but taking part”. How realistic is this attitude in the world of sport today?
In the world of sports today, it is not only about taking challenge. Sports were supposedly to be a physical challenge between people in games. However, it seems that winning is important if the athlete is taking part in competitions in the world of sport today. This is due to the extra incentives an athlete could gain if he wins. This is especially so since the world of sports has been over- commercialised. Hence, the attitude of “winning is not important, but taking part of it” is not realistic in the world of sports today as there are certain objectives that a sportsman would want to achieve at the end of competition.
Winning is important in the world of sports today because there are many rewards which the winner could gain. Sportsmen who are taking part in the competition are promised with numerous cash rewards and medals if they win a game. Hence, this drives sportsmen to strive to win the games as getting the rewards are important to them. By winning the game, the sportsmen would also be given media attention and they would be popular sportsmen in the public eye. As a result, many of them resort to doping to boost their skills or stamina to help them win the game. For instance, Marion Jones, a tracker, was found gulity in doping cases to win various games. She expressed her greatest regret to resort to using perforamce-enhacement drugs to win the titles. This indicates the importance of winning to sportmen when they are taking part. Perhaps, this could be due to the high expectations they have set for themselves or even due to the greed of rewards. Therefore, this shows the attitude of winning is not important in the world of sport today is unrealistic as taking part without winning would not bring any economic benefits to the sportsmen
.(yes also add how gold medalists from the last Olympics are millionaires. winning=$)
Similarly, winning is ultimately important in the commercialised world of sports today. In professional sport, sponsorship means that big prize money can be paid and events can be organised on a very large scale without the spectators having to pay huge admission prices. On the other hand, companies who put money into sponsorship will have their names brought attention to the public to get publicised through the winning team by media. Nonetheless, sports teams definitely have to win first before this mutual symbiotic relationship steps in. For instance, Phonak, the world’s largest makers of high-tech hearing-aids decided to pull out the sponsorship contract when the Phonak team led by American Floyd Landis, the surprise winner of this year’s Tour de France was subsequently tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone in 2006. This shows that no company would want to sponsor a bad-image or losing teams. This clearly shows the realistic attitude in the world of sport today where money is extremely closely related. Furthermore, it would be wastage of resources if a sport team keeps losing-especially if the team has received a huge sum of sponsorship. In this case, taking part without winning might be seen as a disgrace. As a result, the importance of winning in the world of sport today is practically realistic.
However, there are sportsmen who still value the fundamental purpose of games in sports too. Sportsmanship is an attitude that strives for fair play, and grace in losing. This expresses an aspiration or ethos that the activity will be enjoyed for its own sake. It is not that you have won or lost but how you played the game. It is the process of taking part that is important in sports. Not only the sportsmen will get to enjoy the process, sportsmen who take part in competition will get to experience and learn more about the sport they play. This is evident in the Beijing Olympics 2008 where Shawn Johnson (age 16) and Nastia Liukin (age 18) openly cheering for each other when a strong performance from one would knock the other from gold medal status. Also, Liukin expressed that it was a great opportunity for her to explore the depth of gymnastics. This shows that the attitude of importance of taking part is more realistic in this case. Perhaps, winning is not important for sportsmen who do not only aim for the rewards but learning experience. Most probably, this attitude is more realistic for most young or amateur sportsmen.Therefore, the notion of taking part in competition is more important than winning is still realistic in the world of sport today.
Conversely, both taking part and winning are equally important for some sportsmen. This is especially so if the sportsmen is representing a small country of his homeland in a large-scale competition event in the world. Firstly, by taking part in an international sport event, sportsmen who represent their countries will show the country’s active participation in the world events even if the country is small or probably often neglected. √However, if they further win the games, the countries represented would be given much attention for the achievements they have accomplished. This, in turn, leads to voices from small countries could be heard and brought attention to the world as well. For instance, the participation and achievements from small counties like Singapore are important. Kenenisa Bekele, an athlete from Ethiopia, was very proud to win the gold medal in the 5000m race in Beijing Olympics 2008. National Pride was often instilled in the sportsmen especially when they could see the flag of their countries represented were being raised up high in the event. This indicates taking part in competition is insufficient without the glory of winning that comes together to leave a deep impression of a country in the world. Although I reckon that it is impossible to award every country to be the winner, I think seeing the importance of both taking part and winning should be the realistic attitude in the world of sport today for countries who wish to be heard in the world.
In conclusion, I feel that the importance of winning is often closely related to cash benefits and popularity that a sportsman aims. On the other hand, the importance of taking part is often closely related to the personal experience that a sportsman hopes for. As a result, the relative importance between winning and taking part is subjective as different sportsmen would have different expectations and goals for their own. Generally, the business of sport has been spread widely across the world through media. Therefore, a widespread of commercialized sport today would most probably outweigh the spirit of just taking part of it. This shows that the attitude of “winning is not important, but taking part of it” is not realistic in the world of sport today.